From the book
Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume I
Marsilio Ficino · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordImbecillitas is weakness; debilitari to become weaker; deficere to fail or fall short.
- In the Platonic TheologyThe descent through less perfect causes is described as a gradual weakening that must eventually fail.
- In this edition“Falters” keeps the figurative claudicat legible.
- A place to readDescending efficacy is said to weaken until it fails
Meaning
Imbecillitas is weakness; debilitari to become weaker; deficere to fail or fall short. Fatigari is to grow tired and claudicare literally to limp or falter. Permanere means remaining or enduring; diuturnior means longer-lasting.
Use in the book
The descent through less perfect causes is described as a gradual weakening that must eventually fail. The argument’s vocabulary links intensity, efficacy, and causal rank. These assertions belong to Ficino’s case against an endless hierarchy; they are not deductions from the dictionary sense of “decrease.”
In the proof of divine infinity, finite power is said eventually to tire and falter, whereas the uniform motion of the vast world displays an indefatigable governor. The next chapter connects stronger preserving power with longer endurance. The imagery of fatigue makes the contrast vivid, but does not imply a divine body with muscles or an experimentally established physical law of energy. Its role is to connect dependence, continuance, and the first cause’s inexhaustibility.
Places to read
Translation in this edition
“Falters” keeps the figurative claudicat legible. “Endures” for permanet stresses continuity, whereas servatur adds preservation by a cause; their conjunction should not be flattened into simple longevity.
debilitare / deficere
debilitare / deficere. Printed forms: debilitetur; deficere; deficient.
To weaken or fail, with deficient ranks falling away below others. The finite lower terminus is argued from diminishing efficacy, not established merely by the verb’s meaning. References: II.3.2, II.3.3. See Failure weariness and endurance.
fatigare / claudicare
fatigare / claudicare. Printed forms: claudicat; fatigatur; infatigabilem.
To grow weary or falter; to be unwearied. Long-continued cosmic regularity is taken as evidence of a governor whose power does not tire. References: II.4.7. See Failure weariness and endurance.